Team Shadetek: Burnerism

Team Shadetek’s first record for Warp is a scorching combination of hip-hop beats and grungy electronics. This is the kind of stuff Chocolate Industries used to put out. On “Menthol,” a sweet bassline drives distorted scratches, barely audible voices, and simple snare beats. “The Fax” is more intricate, embedding a synth melody amongst deep bass and sampled drums. It’s catchy. Things get quite a bit noisier towards the middle of the EP, culminating in “House of Leaves,” with burbling beats a la recent Autechre, a punchy descending bassline, and a wide range of DSP effects all vying for space. Unlike the early tracks, there’s no trace of acoustic samples. “Hard Dragon” signals a return to hip-hop breaks and melodic electronics, and “Lanolin” follows up with another soothing bassline. Once again Warp shows off its ability to find consistently well-produced music. This is a tight EP which manages to stay cohesive while touching on a couple of different styles.